"The roots of modern horror are found in the First World War. It was the most devastating event to occur in the early 1900s, with 38 million dead and 17 million wounded in the most grotesque of ways, owing to the new machines brought to war. If Downton Abbey showed the ripple effect of this catastrophe above stairs, Wasteland reveals how it made its way into the darker corners of our psyche on the bloody battlefield, the screaming asylum, and desolated...

Examines the historical context of twentieth-century literature, describing the events, movements, and figures that influenced specific literary works, and includes a chronology of the historical events covered

This volume introduces literary contexts as they apply to novels written since 1960 by American and Canadian authors, offering students a working foundation of literary context. Essays on 37 notable post-modernist novels include detailed plot synopsis and main characters, along with symbols and motifs, historical, societal, religious, scientific and technological, and biographical context, and end with discussion questions and essay ideas.

This volume profiles fifteen novels, including an introduction to the story and its author, analysis of themes, and critical commentary.